Catching Up
by JackleTheKitsune
Summary: Tails wants to be more like his hero, but will a minor distraction show him what he really can do? Hiatus, i apologize. If you would like to see this continued, please let me know.
1. Moving

**Catching up**

**(…)**

**Chapter 1 - Moving**

**(…)**

Sharp piercing pains shot almost endlessly through his legs. Their intense screaming becoming a dull and accustomed itch. Pushing himself farther, and longer, his legs finally started to give out. With a buzz he gained more speed, as his feet dragged behind him, so close to the ground you could mistake them for touching it.

"I have to hurry, I'm running behind, I need to be faster to keep up." the line drove him forward, even when he would normally be nowhere near this fast, or this close for one of his kind, this wasn't enough.

A few thousand blades of grass were clipped into a substance only suitable to be scattered by the wind as he raced after his target. He kept his head up high, his arms in an odd patter, one in front and the other angled back like his hero to let him be closer to him, but still balance, letting his forward momentum from behind him push yet balance him on the ground. Tails raced onward, his legs no longer feeling the burn, instead his efforts focused on his tails. 

Minutes passed into hours as he kept moving, his target still not in sight. First to get out of the musical mayhem of a yard behind him, then to not freeze in the peaks that were so cold he could barely fly, into a sky born canyon with updrafts to relieve some of his efforts. He had avoided all that lay there for him, the traps, the robots, and even the nefarious doctor himself.

He had been so close to him then, close to being with his hero and friend again. Close to having that feeling that was so unique, that useful feeling, the feeling he was a hero. Sonic however, was still running, running forward, running faster, and after Eggman.

"That base up ahead, it looks like Eggman from here even, and I know Sonic was headed this way, if he needs my help, I'll be there!" Tails breathed to himself as he again tried to speed up. He felt the familiar pull at his body, the drag increasing on him as he speed also did. He knew the calculations, he knew how to do it in his plane, he knew there was no way he was even close yet, but he swore he'd break the sound barrier like Sonic.

The world around him became artificial as he passed into the base, it's security seeming lacking along a certain trail. Tails could tell that Sonic was leaving a hole for him if he was still coming.

"You know I am!" Tails smiled as he sped into the base. The outside complex was nothing, nothing at all for Sonic judging from the robot parts scattered about and the small animals quickly leaving the area. Inside proved to be something different.

Tails jumped the small lip of the destroyed door and rushed forward as his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. He almost didn't see the large spring ahead but jumped and kicked it with all his might to be rocketed skyward. During is accent, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flickering wing-beat, then a small yellow glow. Quickly using his tails and throwing himself downward he stopped dead in the air and dropped quickly below the shot back at the spring. He kicked again ready for what it was, this time, he saw the Buzz Bomber clear as day. Shifting his weight backwards and twisting his tails under him he edged over the shot before dropping down with a spin jump kick, the balled up force of his body helping to dissipate the damage to himself like Sonic showed him.

Bouncing off of the soon to be scrap metal, Tails landed on the nearby ledge and rushed forward again. His feet only carried him a brief distance before his eyes were assaulted with brighter lighting. Almost tripping in surprise he caught himself with some backspin on his tails.

"How does he find the time to build ALL this?" He remarked knowing how long it took him to just upgrade a plane. Tails pushed the question out of his mind as he found himself running across a green pulsating bridge. The next second however, the bridge itself stopped pulsating and dissolved instantaneously.

"Uah" he breathed before his tails kicked in saving him from the fall. No sooner had he touched down on the other side that he was again hurrying. Twists and turns led him down hallways covered with parts and spikes as he managed to follow Sonic's path.

A misstep later and a panel caught him by surprise, before he could recover he felt the ground catch him hard. Standing up quickly he realized the ground was not the only thing that wished to catch him as a few robots raced forward. Without hesitating he jumped at the first one and kicked off it to become airborne. He flipped forward in a spin before righting himself by spinning his tails. The two robots turned towards each other to fire as he passed but Tails knew he wasn't fast enough to do what Sonic did.

Sliding just a bit he turned put his weight on his toes. Kicking off with his other leg he spun his tails as fast as he could. The result as a low spin with his tails sweeping even faster and keeping him in momentum. Their shots now too high, he felt a light sting in his tails as they shredded the robots' lower chassis and freed the animals inside.

Recovering enough from his spin to look up he saw a wheeled robot rapidly approaching from behind. Tails didn't have to stop to think to recover all the way and run. Th robot grew closer, it's tires squealing with the power it's engine was roaring out. Again going full out in his speed, Tails was dismayed to see it still gaining on him. Up ahead he saw the path ending, but above that seemed to be another one, with a wall being all that lead to it. A small curve in the path revealed that it actually ramped upward. With the robot now almost next to him, Tails lifted off with his tails and ascended towards the opening. A engine roar brought his eyes down as he took off and saw the robot speeding up again.

"That was probably built to try and catch Sonic, I can't outrun it, but if I can get up there, I can escape." He hoped. He was so close to the opening, the ledge so close he felt he could make it. Then, as the robot followed the curve and raced up the wall, Tails knew he wouldn't make it in time.

"Oh... What would Sonic do.." He thought as it grew closer.

"What to..." It's smooth metallic body reflected his image with a slight blue tone.

"Do.." Tails smiled as the thought came to him. Emotionless red eyes fixed on him in time to see their target spin forward in the air. As it processed what was about to occur, a heel crashed down onto it's head, the axe-kick combing with the robot's speed to make a otherwise small blow send the robot down in smoke before breaking open to let the animal escape.

Tails landed on his other foot as the pain raced back up his leg. Transferring back to his tails he hoped the cool air rushing past him would help ease the pain. Knowing his kick and quick thinking would have made Sonic proud, he continued his assault.

Racing off a ramp and jumping to a thin rail suspended with more strange pulses, Tails slid down it with his shoes sparking lightly. The downward angle kept his three bangs out of his face till the rail curved to reveal it's abrupt end.

Tails jumped just as soon as he saw a rail higher up to move to, it slipping from his reach by just a small bit. He landed on the rail again and waited for the exact end, jumping with it before tossing his entire body upward even more to land safely on the next ledge.

A light pant escaped his lips just as a yellow glow bounced off the floor at him. Tails rolled to the side with a word of surprise as the laser shot missed him. Pulling himself forward a bit he rolled again to get to his feet. The robot was right in front of him, standing there with it's blaster about to fire again.

"I will Believe in myself!" he chanted as he raced at it and attempted to slide under it like he'd seen Sonic do. A split second later and Tails found himself under the robot, having stopped just short. Before his lips could mutter a word that he was sure he should avoid, he thought to spin his tails, and thus rotated his body till his leg connected with it's leg, and managed to trip it.

"AAAH" Tails let out the wordless cry as he punched and kicked at the robot as it went to fall on him. With soon to be growing pain in his limbs, he battered it off managing to break the arm holding the blaster. The burning sensation in his foot returned as if he had kicked the earlier robot twice as he brought it down on the robot's mainframe.

"Phew..." He breathed letting his shoulders drop forward as he caught his breath. He wanted so badly, to stop for a bit, to be allowed to rest, but he knew Sonic might need him. He would continue, he would push on, and help Sonic stop Egg-. His thoughts were interrupted as a thudding behind him alerted him to someone coming. While his brain yelled to run or hide behind something he didn't move. A figure quickly came into view, and her long strides brought her very close just moments after that.

"Excuse me!" she called as she drew closer, not slowing down.

"Choo, Choo!" another cried as he flew next to her.

Tails watched as she ran past, her dress and ears flying back behind her, her face set and determined with a cheerful smile underlying it. The tired and burning from his body seemed to freeze as did his breath.

"Let's go Cheese!" she called back to the blue chao floating after her.

Only after the light thud of her feet on the metal floor faded did Tails move. His legs pumped, his eyes set on his goal. Picking up speed he returned to his tails, propelling himself even faster towards his destination. He knew what he had to do, he knew why he was hurrying, he knew the dangers he might face continuing, but what he didn't know, was who that just was. It was time to get moving.

**(…)**

**Lets see... how long has it been since I posted... oh... nearly a year or at least half of one? Heh... oh.. .uh... you see... well... I ran out of ideas and College is keeping me busy.  
>Anyway, not like most of you care about the excuses I make, you're probably just trying to kill time.<br>So now, my newest project is in motion.**

**Sadly, I can't promise any frequency with updates, again the college thing, but now that I have this going... I might be able to get more into it.  
>Anyway, this story is going to be more Action adventure oriented than my normal fare, but well... if you're reading this part... you can probably tell what else I have planned.**

**So yes... I'm Back, and I'm planning... oh... What a dangerous thing for me to do.  
>See you next time, with chapter two.<strong>

**(…)**

**One Psychopathic Good-To-Be-Back Fox**


	2. Metal

**Chapter 2- Metal**

**(…)**

The air whirled by as he moved forward. The dull lights of various machines filling his vision for a brief time as a corridor of metal again encased him. He took steady, even breaths like he had been told to, keeping calm and moving forward.

Tails made sure to blink as the corridor ended, again exposing him to the bright lights that filled the base. The lights were overwhelming by themselves but he could also see the traps and guards they illuminated, the sharp metal spikes, and various robots already threatening to take aim. As he scanned the area he noticed a haphazard strip that was blacked out in part, it's lights dim or quickly fading.

"That darkness could be dangerous, if Eggman is willing to let me see all this, then what could he have down there?" he asked himself as he moved forward. "Then again, with the way those lights are fading, you'd think someone had broken them." Tails took a second to steal himself. "Here I come Sonic!"

The golden furred fox tilted slightly to the left, ready to descend into the depths when he heard something that almost made him tumble. He perked his ears up, slowing down just a bit, putting his whole body on guard... There it was again, he was sure of it. Tails was just deciding what to do when a large Robot landed in front of him, it's huge hammer and heavy armor shaking the ground. He hesitated for a moment then hurried toward him, a somewhat cocky grin on his face.

"Just" his words were slow as he dodged the hammer to the side with a quick twirl of his tails. "like" He continued while jumping onto the handle of the hammer and running up it. "SONIC!" his cry rang out as he jumped and kicked the robot hard in the head.

A slight ringing spread out from the robot's head, and with it, came a hard ache in Tail's legs. "OUCH" he hissed before he could recover from his kick. The ringing on the robot seemed to be dying out much faster than his leg pain was and Tails had to drop and roll to avoid a swipe from the monotone faced robot. Behind the harsh thud of it's hammer, he could have swore he heard that sound again, but who could be laughing here?

Tails rolled backwards and onto his feet before the pain made him jump and take flight. He narrowly dodged another swing before the automation just decided to shoulder-bash him. The wall proved to be less forgiving than even the robot's armor had been and Tails grit his teeth from the pain.

"Did he damage my hearing? All I can hear is laughing and ringing. But the laughing is getting louder?" he said to himself as a way to check his hearing. Before he could question himself further he looked up for anything he could use as the robot closed in. His eyes fell on an air duct just above him, if he could climb inside he could hide till his head stopped ringing.

The metal above him singed to make some light noises as he reached for it but he wasn't trusting his hearing at the moment. Just as his fingers gripped the edge a peach covered ball raced out, the sound of laughter growing even louder. A light blue blur followed after as Tails stood their dumbfounded.

"Look out Mr. Robot!" the ball cried as it sped towards him. Tails nearly laughed himself as the ball hit the robot hard in the head, just a short distance away from where his kick had landed and the robot fell back with it's head flying off.

A figure got up from behind the robot as she uncurled herself from the tight ball she had pulled herself into. "Cheese, that was so fun, is the Mr. Robot ok?" She said slowly as she got her bearings. Tails didn't know what to make of this, this, Cream and chocolate colored rabbit girl with the bright orange dress and light blue chao.

She turned around slowly as she brushed off some dust from her dress. Tails wasn't sure why but the ringing went away as he saw her small smile, and bright eyes. Just as he moved to say something she looked up and jumped a bit. Tails took a step back, afraid he had scared her when she smiled wider.

"Hello again Mr. Fox, sorry if I hurt Mr. Robot, I'm sure someone here can help fix him." She said in an almost singsong voice before letting her smile widen once again, astounding Tails.

His mind raced, he wasn't sure if he was still just in pain, or something else but none of his thoughts were willing to form into words. His mouth opened and the air dried it out quickly before he had to shut it again. "My, robot?" Tails asked finally, the rest of his words not coming.

"Oh, is he not yours? I'm sorry, I was just trying to get through to find my Momma, so I wasn't sure." She said before leaning over to her chao friend and straightened a small red bow-tie on it.

"Mr. Rob- I mean the robot belongs to Dr. Eggman, this is his base after all. Was your mother kidnapped?" Tails asked looking ready to move again.

"Yes he did Mr. Fox, and I liked meeting you, but we really need to go help her." She said with a light curtsey before turning to run.

"Wait" Tails started to say taking a step forward but it was too late. With one quick hop she sprang into a quick stride that was carrying her away at a rapid pace. Without even thinking about it, he was after her, spinning his tails again till she was within arm's reach. He panted lightly from the rapid acceleration but was soon back to breathing normally.

It took a minute but eventually the chao saw him and tapped her on the shoulder causing her to look over. "Oh, hello Mr. Fox, I didn't know you could move so fast. Was there something you needed?"

"You said you're trying to rescue your mother right? Well, if we can catch up to my friend Sonic we can make sure she'll be alright." Tails said getting an odd look from her before she lit up.

"You know Mr. Sonic?" she asked with her smile growing.

"Of course, I'm his best friend and sidekick!" Tails said his chest threatening to puff up if not for the task of breathing.

"That's amazing, he's so fast, I guess that explains how you caught up to me so quickly." Tails smiled at her praise of him, he had been working so hard to get faster. Before he could respond, a dull light flicked just a short distance in front of them as the robot came into view, it's blaster ready to fire.

"Watch out!" Tails yelled jumping to kick the robot. "Just like Sonic" he breathed before a blue dart raced under him.

"Cheese!" the rabbit's words reached him just after he saw the chao hit the robot hard enough to make even Knuckles flinch.

"There's more!" she continued as other lights began to fill the hall ahead of them.

"Stay back and keep low!" Tails said as he sped up. He noticed a small slant from the ground towards the nearest wall and he used it to ramp his way onto it. The first shot went right under him as he moved up the side of the wall and onto the curved ceiling. The first robot looked up in time to see Tails jump straight down and kick him hard, bouncing up and towards the other robot's head at an angle. He rebounded on that one and spun himself towards the other, the first crumpling and the second already on it's way. He flattened himself out, touched his toe to the ground and spun with all his might, bringing his tails around and swiping across the robot's midsection, cleaving a line through it.

"Wow, You're amazing!" The rabbit said cheering him on. Not noticing the ground she was on was made of green stripes like the one Tails had seen earlier.

A duller green light appeared just a bit ahead and Tails grimaced as the rocket started to make it's way down the hall at them. "Duck!" he said jumping to kick the rocket off course but missing it and singing his fur from the engine.

Cream jumped back, her cry of "Cheese!" hitting the air as the blue dart that was her chao speared past the missile and took out the robot. The missile continued and hit a small machine next to the wall with wires running into the floor.

Tails turned to smile back at her when he saw the dust cloud and then the green floor wink out of existence. A sharp cry caught his ears and he jumped into the pit that had been covered by the machine.

He dropped for a bit before spinning his tails and stopping himself in the air, "Where are you? I'm coming!" he called heading downward again.

"I'm up here!" the call came and Tails stopped dead. He slowly turned and looked up at the small mouth of the pit to see a figure waving at him. After just a bit he was again at the top and settled on the ground next to her.

"Sorry, I though you might have fallen, what with the hole and how you yelled." Tails said scratching his head.

"Oh, it's ok, I did fall for a bit, and I screamed out of surprise but I just flew back up here as soon as I could." She said with her smile returning.

Tails took a second to register everything she said. "You can fly?"

"So can you, I was really surprised, I've never seen a fox do that with their tail before." She said not bothering to answer his question.

"Well, I have two tails, I'm not like most foxes, and if I spin them I can fly like a helicopter, but just how did you fly?" Tails blushed at bit at her praise but returned to the issue.

"Oh, like this" She said flapping her ears and taking off from the ground.

"Wait what?" Tails did a double take.

"I can flap my ears, they are so large it's easy. My momma said it's been a long time since she'd seen a little rabbit with so much strength in her ears."

Tails just stood there a bit dumbfounded before he finally found a word to fill his gaping mouth. "Wow, so, you overcome the initial pull of gravity by diverting the thrust downward like a bird would by flapping it's wings, but, you don't have the normal shape required to glide, so, you're doing nothing but diverting thrust downward, that must be so tiring, the amount of thrust needed must be amazi- I'm sorry I'm babbling." He stopped himself after a bit.

"Really, I never knew it was so odd, but it is hard, I can only fly for a short time, not like Cheese here!" She said keeping her almost unceasing smile going.

"So that's this guy's name huh? Cheese?" Tails asked as the chao floated back to them.

"OH! I'm so sorry, I didn't introduce us, I'm Cream, and this is Cheese, what's your name?" She said looking ashamed at first but returning to her smile.

"I'm Miles Prower" he said after a second but quickly hated himself.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Prower." She said doing another curtsey.

"You don't have to call me mister, you can just call me Tails, that's my nickname." He said trying to cover the fact he used his hated name.

"Oh, alright Mr. Tails, I'm Cream the Rabbit, it's so nice to make your acquaintance." She smiled even wider than before.

The two took a minute before finally deciding they should get back to moving. As they continued their small introductions they let their legs increase in speed, and eventually one was bouncing along as the other let their feet skim the ground.

"Mr. Tails?" Cream said after a minute of moving through neon world of one Dr. Eggman.

"Yeah?" Tails said turning to look her as they sped ahead.

"Would you like to be my friend?" she asked her smile becoming huge.

"Of course Cream" He said letting his own smile grow.

"Yay, you hear that Cheese, Tails is going to be our friend!" she cried happily as they hurried through the world of lights and metal.

(…)

**Yeah, you all probably thought this was a false alarm or something, or that what I said in my last chapter wasn't true. Well, I'm here to say that I am in fact back, but the updates are going to be sporadic. **

**I want to thank all my old readers that are still dusting me off after so long, and I invite the new readers to check out my older work, it will probably be nice to have something to read until I can get to this again.**

**For those who I've talked too in the past and I consider colleagues and friends on this site, I'm doing very well, in love (Shocking considering all I write is romance I know.) and college is going well.**

**So, to all of you that are new, old, returning, discovering, or even just looking for some amusement, I want to thank you and let you know I have more in store.**

**This story is far from over, and I plan to be working on it for a while.**

**(…)**

**Till Next Time.**

**- One Psychopathic Maniacal Fox**


	3. Scorching

**Chapter 3 – Scorching**

Twisting beams of light raced down the corridors. A maze of options splitting off every so often as two young beings sped past them. A high whirling and a melodic pounding were the few sounds that didn't reek of metal in this mechanical monstrosity. The Chao's wing beats pushed him along at eye level to his best friend as her long strides carried her forward as her ears trailed behind her.

"So Mr. Tails, how come you aren't touching the ground?" The rabbit said looking over as her new companion skimmed over the ground.

"Oh, if I angle my body correctly, I can act sort of like a wing, and lift myself up." He said his speed dropping for half a second.

"Wow, so why are you so close to the ground? If you can fly all the time why not fly higher?" Cream asked with an odd look in her eyes.

"Oh, well, the air kind of rolls off me in a spiral, which hits the ground, and since it can't go lower it gets forced up, making it easier for e to lift off the ground. But"

"But if you go too high it wouldn't work would it then?" Cream cut him off.

"Yeah, that's right, most people stop listening once I start explaining the spiral..." Tails said in a small daze.

"Really, why would they do th-Hey whats that?!" She turned her attention to a pulsating glow coming from ahead of them.

"Get down!" Tails yelled as the yellow beam shot past them. It's heat flashed past them, tails feeling it take the tips of a few of his hair as it grazed his leg.

Cream seemed to jump to the side with a small "eep" as Cheese barreled forward. Tails redoubled his efforts to move forward, seeing the robot ahead loose another shot in their direction.

"Watch out" his call went out as he saw the shot heading past Cheese and towards Cream. Sonic wouldn't let any of his friends get hurt, even his new ones, Tails had to do something. He looked around for something, anything, looking left and right, until his vision was forced down.

"huh" the word escaped his breath as he tripped over a small panel. He had just a second to pull his head in, trying to roll to minimize the impact with the ground before he realized what he had tripped over. Eggman's troops had always been a bit slow, and because of this he'd taken to leaving around some handy devices to help them get around. This accelerator panel was meant for getting reinforcements to the center of the base, but now it carried Tails forward.

His word spun and he felt his teeth rattle as he rolled head over heels. His vision came in a spiral, seeing the world spin he resorted to a trick he had gotten from Sonic. He blinked his eyes, trying to keep his vision uniform, just making the picture a shaky view of what was in front of him. Even with his starting to help, the world was confusing as he felt gravity pulling on him in all directions. A harsh impact followed by a large thud caused him to break from his ball, sprawling out on the ground. Another thud came a second later before he felt someone rush to him.

"Tails, that was amazing!" Cream said running up to the prone fox.

"Huh" he said pushing himself to his feet.

"You rolled into a ball, then that thing made you kind of go up the walls, then down the other side and into that mean robot." Cream said jumping where she stood.

"Oh, well, I guess that works." He said brushing himself off.

Looking over Cream just smiled and the two let their eyes just stay locked on each others for a minute. It took a minute before Cheese began to pull on Cream's ears, making her look to him.

"What's wrong?" She said to him before the ground started to shake.

"Somethings happening, and we're close," Tails said as the floor in front of them began to be ripped to pieces. Metal gave way, the entire base torn asunder before their eyes. Below, in a dark abyss, there came a pyramid of lights. A gargantuan sphere, more being revealed every minute sat below them, lights flashing, metal gleaming, and being the most unexpected thing the three onlookers could have come across.

As if to prove their assumption of it's oddity, a fat man in a beat up machine sped headfirst into the large sphere as it belched fire below itself.

"Was that Eggman?" Tails asked aloud. Before he could be answered by the sound of more scrapping metal he saw a blue blur a few levels below him.

"MR. SONIC!" Cream called with a wave. The hedgehog in question didn't bother glancing back as he disappeared inside the rising sphere.

"We have to get in there" Tails said before a the rockets below grew louder. The orb was rising quickly now, already pushing it's top to their level.

"But" Cream seemed to hesitate.

"C'mon!" Tails said grabbing her hand and pulling her with him. With a light spin her pulled her into his hands, spinning up his tails as they lifted off the ground and headed for the sphere. Cheese murmured something in protest to his friend being pulled off like that but followed none the less.

"AHH!" Cream screamed in a mix of joy and terror as they sped towards the behemoth of a ship. As if summoned by the sound, a hatch opened up showing the permanent, monotone grin of an Egg-pawn. It's laser was aimed at them and Tails had little time to dodge.

"CHOO!" Cheese pushed through them, separating the two mammals. Cream's ears unfurled as she left Tails hands, causing her to hold her position in the air. Tails saw Cheese spiral around the laser shot and then it pass right where his face would have been. The little chao crashed into the robot, making it stumble back into whatever lay within the hatch, a large crashing sound and smoke alerting everyone to the robot's downfall.

"Here we go!" Tails said pulling Cream by the hand to join Cheese in the open hatch.

"Where do you think this machine is going Mr. Tails?" Cream asked looking around.

With a great roar and lurch of force, the ship burst from it's hangar, breaching the sky. The newest passengers didn't even notice the hatch be slammed shut from the force, they were too busy being pinned to the ground.

"With this much force, I think we're about to see the curvature of the planet!"

**(…)**

**Well, you all deserve an explanation. So I'll say this... this is the FOURTH time I've made this chapter. I lost one to forgetting to save, another to just hating how it came out, and the third to a computer crash. I lost all my work that I hadn't already submitted so, yes... a few months short of a year since I updated... and here we go... chapter 3. **

**I won't tell you to stay tuned for chapter 4 because I honestly don't know when i'll be getting to it. But, I hope this is something for now. **

**Until Next Time.**

**- One Psychopathic Maniacal Fox.**


	4. Sky

Chapter 4- Fly

Three bodies were currently feeling rather intimately close. Their fur was pushed back at their touch, leaving the soft skin pressed strongly against their captor. They wore faces of various expression, seeming at first to have dread, then relief, then wonder, and then confusion. Hours seemed to pass for how long they were held there, but eventually, like all things, this moment ended. The three of them wasted no time picking themselves off the metal floor.

"What was that?" Cream asked standing rather shakily.

"Ugh, about 6 Gs. The ship took off with enough force to pin us to the floor." Tails said pulling his legs under himself.

"Choo..." Cheese said with a small curly spiral forming above his head. Cream took a second to pull him into a hug, comforting her friend.

"It's okay Cheese, we're just really high." Cream said rocking him back and forth.

"Actually Cream," Tails started looking outside as he pulled the hatch open. "I don't think 'Really High' cuts it, we're in space."

"Really?" Cream darted to the hatch to confirm what she had just heard. "What will we do? Oh, I know Mr. Eggman is a bad man, but oh... I don't think My mom would like me going into space." She worried aloud to herself. After a moment however, her worries were cut short by a small, peppy blue fellow.

"CHOO Chao, CHOO!" Cheese said with a great smile gracing his face.

"Huh? Whats up?" Tails asked surprised at the sudden outburst. He looked to Cream for an answer on to see her trying not to laugh.

"He said, Chao in space. He loves those movies." Cream exhaled a deep breath to stifle her laughter.

"The movies, heh, HA HA HA HA." Tails couldn't help but laugh at the oddity of the situation. As he succumbed to his fit of laughter, Creams became renewed. Both of the furry passengers laughed as a smiling chao sat between them, feeling quite proud of himself. Then, with a large blaring horn, a flashing light, and a strong rumble, it all came to an end.

"What was that?" Cream asked it catching her off guard.

"Since this is Eggman's ship, probably Sonic, come on, if this ship is getting damaged we'll want to get to an escape pod or the central air system." Tails said grabbing her hand and starting to hurry them down the hallway.

"Why the air system?" Cream asked as she and Cheese hurried after Tails.

"Most of his forces are robots, he's the only person who really needs air. We might be able to run off less air and take more pressure than he can, but we still will run out of air or be sucked out into space if we get cut off from the pressure or air supply." he wasted no time pulling them deeper into the ship.

"If that's the case, we need to find my mother!" Cream's alarm dripping off her words.

Tails narrowed his gaze ahead. "Robots, i've got them" He said speeding up with a grin on his face.

"Be careful" Cream called, speeding up but lagging behind just a bit.

"I WILL BE LIKE SONIC!" Tails though aloud as he neared the robot. It's head turned to his direction, which prompted it's lethargic attempt to turn around and impale him on a lance. He kicked at the lance as it swung, knocking it away and himself bouncing upwards. As he felt himself rise, his legs curled in towards himself, his arms tensing to throw himself into a spin. Cream jumped to the side, moving past the robot as she saw Tails' foot connect with the back of it's head.

His kick hit hard, sending the robot skidding to the floor, it's main processor in pieces. Tails was send forward however, and it looked like his head would hit the floor. Cream gasped before Tails pulled his head in, grabbed his legs with his arms, and rolled ahead of her before standing up out of his ball, his stride seeming to return to him with just the slightest of effort.

"Wow, just like Mr. Sonic" Cream said as she caught up with Tails. She tried to suppress a giggle when she saw his ear twitch.

"You really think so? Thanks, I've been trying." Tails said, his arm moving to the back of his head for just a bit.

Cream nodded her head and they continued on their way, the long hallway seeming to now be devoid of any threats. The pounding of their feet would echo on for what seemed like ages, a surprising lack of resistance found as they carried on.

"Why aren't we meeting as many robots Tails?" Cream asked as the next cooridor revealed itself to be empty.

"Most likely they're being redirected to get Sonic, but it could be possible that the air is going to get cut off soon here, and Eggman wouldn't need a robot to stop us then." he said as they hurried forward.

"Are we close to the central air thing you mentioned then?" She seemed just a bit worried but Tails grinned before slowing down.

"An air duct!" Cream jumped for joy as Tails took a quick look at it.

"Yes, and if we follow it, AHA! Grates, we can pry those open and follow them to the central air unit." he said pulling at them but not making them budge.  
>"Pardon me Tails" Cream said all too happily as she jumped up and kicked one of the grates in. "Strong legs" she smiled seeing his surprised expression. She turned to enter the vent only to have Tails hold her back.<p>

"Watch out, The vent is hot." his words had barely left his mouth when Cream noticed the slight red glow the inner vent carried. "It's cold in space so Eggman has to use hot air, it's heating and air flow all in one, but we'll need to think of something so we don't get burned on the way down." Tails explained before starting to look around.

"Choo choo?" Cheese asked pulling at something on the wall.

"Will these work?" Cream asked helping Cheese free the loosened panels off the wall. It's odd texture was smooth and slick looking.

"That looks like, Heat Shielding? But, why would he leave extra panels of heat shielding lying arou-" Tails stopped as he and Cream noticed the large steel doors tightly shut behind the paneling.

"Danger, outer shell compromised." All three read the bold letters that seemed to be burned into the door.

"Whats wrong Tails?" Cream asked seeing him glancing between the panels and the door.

A slight laugh flew from his lips, "Nothing, it's just, we must have gotten to a part that Sonic came by. Some explosion he dodged blew a hole in the outer shell and the lack of pressure caused some objects inside to get pulled out. I'm guessing the depressurization reversed the effect and pulled some of the debris back in before the safety door could seal it off."

"So, Mr. Sonic helped us out?" Cream asked with a smile.

"Yep, we can slide down the vent on this, it will more then stand the heat." Tails said matching her smile.

"Slide? Isn't that dangerous? I don't think my momma would want me doing that."

"Cream, you've chased a mad doctor, fought robots, and jumped into a space ship, I don't think a slide should be anything." Tails deadpanned.

"Oh, dear, I hope momma is ok with all this." Cream said seeming to be second guessing herself.

"Don't worry Cream, we'll be fine, Just follow me ok?" Tails said smiling even wider.

She hesitated before picking up another panel of the shielding. "Alright, we can do this."

Both stepped to the vent, Tails holding his sled under himself and Cream doing the same. Cheese held the top of the soon to be sled as both prepaired to jump in.

"You sure we'll be fine?" Cream asked.

"_She was so brave before, like she wasn't even worried, but I guess all that beats down on you. __Well she is just a kid after all." _Tails thought before answering her.

"Yeah, we've got no worries." he said smiling again.

"You know, when you smile like that, you look like Mr. Sonic."

Tails smiled before jumping headfirst into the vent. "WOOHOO!"

A scraping sound behind him and a quick look showed a beaming Cream, following him as the slid down the vent, following it's curves and dips.

"Tails!" Cream yelled from behind him.

"Yeah?" he called back.

"What do we do if there is a turn?" She said thinking back to the sharp right angles they had seen in the duct that lead to the vent.

"Uh, we brake!" Tails called back cursing himself.

"Alright, what do we do until then?" She asked taking his answer with confidence.

Tails wasn't sure what to say, his brain was struggling to map out every outcome. _"No, think like Sonic, Think like Sonic, He would... he would..."  
><em> "TURN!" Cream said letting her ears catch some air, slowing her down.

"No time!" Tails thought out loud. Letting his rational mind again take the reins and idea struck him. "ugh, this is so stupid"

Pushing down on the back end of his panel and pulling at the front edges, he lifted up his sled. With quick thinking his tails spun to life, speeding him up and sending him farther down the tunnel.

Cream was trying to brake harder, but she was still catching up to him, and Cheese's pulling wasn't proving too effective. But just as she was getting worried, she noticed something about Tails, he was slowing down.

"Hold on Cream, take my hand!" He yelled as she came closer.

Her arm stretched out, Cheese holding to her shoulder as the fox seemed to be straining to push forward.

"ready..." Tails smirked as the words left his lips and Cream took his hand.

"GO!" he yelled kicking down on the edge leading the turn, forcing the air under him to double back and send them rocketing along their new trajectory.

With a quick kick he brought the sled back under them, landing next to Cream on their now mutual sled.

"What did you do Tails?" Cream asked amazed.

"I used the shape of the sled and the small size of the vent to compress the hot air. I also added some pressure and made a bubble of compressed air underneath my sled, when I tipped it at the last minute the resistance was lost and actually doubled back, like when you knot a hose then let it go and it shoots off."

He smiled at his own thinking before he felt a iron grip around him.

"You're amazing Tails!" Cream said holding him tightly in her hug.

"Th-thanks." he stuttered, swearing the heat in his cheeks was from the hot air rushing past them.

Sparks flew from behind them as ahead of them came a glowing red light.

"Looks like we were closer than we thought, get ready, I don't think the vent will lead directly into the heater." Tails said, moving to hold Cream only to find his arms already around her.

"_When did I do that?"_ he asked himself before shaking his head and focusing on the deap-drop that seemed to be approaching.

Sure enough, they soon flew out of the vent, hanging in open air before arching down towards a roaring flame.

"FLY!" he shouted as they began to race towards the glowing metal sky.

(…)

**Ok, so a week ago I delcared Hiatus on this story... and you know what... I'm a FREAKING IDIOT!. But it worked...  
>I didn't mean for it to work this way, but it did. It made me want to finish it, I was disgusted with myself for declaring it.<br>But here I am, writing at 2 in the morning because I NEEDED to write.  
>And now, I feel I know the direction I can take this story, I feel like I can finish it.<strong>

**Updates won't be any more frequent, but just maybe this story will be able to compare to some of my other stories. I feel that after In My Arms, anything else I do would be second rate compaired to it, but then again, most of you LOVED She Had Long Ears, and I expected that one to be one of my least enjoyed stories.  
>Anyway, i've been typing for too long.<br>Past this i'll see about getting some work in for my MLP story, if any of you are fans of that, feel free to pop in and give it a try.**

**OK, shameless plugs aside, EVERYONE, MAKE ME WRITE MORE!  
>- One Psychopathic Idiotic Fox<strong>


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